Ore-concentrating table.



PATENTED NOV. 19, 1507.

A. SOHWARZ.

ORE GONUENTRATING TABLE.

' ATE TED NOV. 19, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHBBI' 2.

INVEN TOR c 540! Jam A. ISCHWARZ.

ORB GONGENTRATING TABLE. APPLICATION FILED DBO 26,1906

N M R WITNESSES vim BY wwdg/ M #4 ATTORNEYS or even stoppage of either gangue or v'a ues ALFRED sonwllnz, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ORE- GONCENTRATING TABLE. I

Specification 61" Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 19,1907.

Application filed December 26.1906. Serial 1a. 340.471.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED Son'wARz, a,

: subject' of the Emperor'of Germany, residing at New York city, jnthe county of New York and State of N9W".Y0lk, have invented .certain; new? and useful improvements in Ore-oncehtrating Tables, of which the followingri s a specification.

The-fiireseht invention relates to a c0ncentrat'ingtable designed more particularly to carry out the method described'and claimed in a companion application filed October 27, 1906, SerialNumber 340,861).

. r In the previous practice of-concentrafiingores-the surface 01' the concentrating tables is divided by longitudinal wooden strips, sometimes of equal, sometimes of unequal length, the length in the latter construction increasing from the upper to the lower side of the table. These strips or rillles" have beenmade substantially rectangularin section. The tables are inclined-transversely, and in operation the ore in'jthe forhjijiof pulp is introducedatthe highorside near one end, and under ,thefac'ti'on of the wash water and the reciprocations of the table the ore is carried transversely downward and longitudinally forward, the purpose being that the gangue shall be discharged at the lower edge of the table, while the values or concentrates are discharged at the foot of the table." The lighter portion of the gauges passes'ovcr each ritlle in succession while the values and the heavier gan'gue' are caught by the rililes and carried toward the foot of the table. The function of the rillles is to catch and retain the values and confine their movement to one longitudinal of the table but, owing to the comparatively great'width of the rillles and their depth as compared with the "particles of ore, masses of the latter become banked against the sides of the riflles, causing back eddies which. prevent the proper settling of the values and afford an opportunity for the escape of the finer metallic particles.

T he presence of obstructions in the forln of rillles to check the travel of the ore pulp has heretofore been extensively used 1n gravity concentrating tables. I have ascertained from practical experience that for the better workingof that type of table there should be a substantially continuous and.

unobstructed flow of water over asurface that ollersnoopportunity for the .pilin up oral, the gen.

water or to utter obstruction to the particles of gangue carried thereby. A further ad vantage of my method of treatment is dependent upon. these facts. In pulve'rizing the ores preparatory to subjecting them to concentrating operations it is found that the values are ground finer than the gangues, which are, on the average, of'harder composition Hence, when the mass is ground to3l) mesh,or40 mesh,itis, ingenese. g. silica-tha't compose the bulk of the particles that are of about the caliber of the screen, while the values are mostly among the finer particles. These large particles, on accountfof their size, will act as heavier material "i11 gravity processes; and tend to find lodgn but at any obstruction prevent their separatiiln. I have found that if the surface upon which the operations are taking place be provided with a series of fine indentations sufl icient to act as guides for the mineralparticles, but of such size and shape that the particles of large average calibercannot lodge inthcm, the values will all follow the direction of the indentations, while the gangue will be carried water in the direction of its'fiow.

' The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which v Figure l is a top plan view of my table; Fig. 2 an enlarged sectional view on the plane of the line 22 of Fig. 1; F igs. 3, 4 and 5represent corrugated surfaces whichmay be do plied to the table according to the meshioi the ore treated; and Fig. 6 is a detail, greatly enlarged, illustratingthe corrugated surface of the table and the method of separation effooted thereby. r

by the Similar reference 1: umcrals indicate simi lar parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 designates'the table suitably mounted as on 1,05- rollers 2 running upon track 3 so that it may a be given alongitudinal reciprocating movement which may be imparted to it by any suitable means, such as thatilluStratcd at 4, as will b'e-readily understpod. A head motion to impart a differential reciprocatin mcvei'nent, well understood in this art, will erably inclined slightly transversely of its len th, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and in describing it} shall refer to the right-hand side of Fig. 2 as the higher or upper side of the table; and in like manner I shall refer to the left-hand end of the table as shown in Fig. 1 as the head, and the right-hand end foot.-

The table is constructed in the form shown in Fig. 1 having at the head on the upper side thereof an offset 5,, said offset being preferably supported in a horizontal plane while the body of the table is inclined as above stated. The upper side of the table is provided with a vertical wall 6 extending above its surfacejand secured thereto by brackets 7 is a trough 8 located near the head of the table, having openin s 9 inthe bottom thereof for the' discharge 0 the ore pulp on the surface of'the offset. The operating surface of the table is corrugated, as will bemorefully described, the corrugations being proportioned to the mesh of the particular ore treated. Thus assuming that the ore is 30, or 60 mesh the surfaceof the table will have'8, 12 or 16 corrugations per inch respectively, these differences being illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.

Extending along a part of the upper side of the table is a perforated water supply pipe 10 which is so disposed as to discharge the Wash water issuing from the perforations thereof against'the vertical wall 6 extending around said side of the table, 'so as not to splash the water over the corrugated surface which would create an undesirable disturbance of the masses of ore and concentrates thereon. A short distance back of the foot of the table, and, extending transversely thereof, .is a water discharge pipe 11, the perforations of which'direct the flow of water toward the foot of the table so as to wash it clear and carry the values into a trough 12. Secured to the lower side of the table a trough 13 adapted to receivethe gan e or'tailings, said trough being inclined ownwardly toward the head of the table and discharging into a settling tank 14. The trough 12 at the foot of the table extends transversely across vit and connects with a settling tank 15, into which it discharges the values or concen- Between the troughs 12 and 13 is a short trough 16 which receives the middlings and. discharges them into a settling tank 17. The lengths of the tr'oughs 13 and 16 may be varied to suit conditions met with in the treatment of different ores.

The pipes f0 and 11 may be connected with a pump or othersuitable source of water supply, and the trough or hopper 8 is sin1ilarl supplied through a pipe 18. As will be rea ily understood, a complete water circulating system 'may be used whereby the water into the settling tanks 14, 15

and 17 may be drawn off and run back into the pipes 10, 11 and 18. Instead of having a sin 1e pipe 10 extending along the upper side of t e table I may provide separate discharge pipes 10 and 10 so as to have separate regulation of the water supply at different points of. the table.

As has been stated before, the surface of the table is provided with indentations or corrugations, those on the body of the table designated 19 extending preferably in the direction of the reciprocating movement imparted to the tablejand those on the ofl'set 5 designated as 20 extending in a direction at right an les to the corrugations on the body of the ta le. It is to be understood that the corrugations indicated at 19 and 20 are proportionately far larger than are used on such a table as represented in Fig. 1, which is in the neighborhood of six feetin width. These corrugations may be mere lines or scorings cut into or raised upon the surface of the table, which will be sufficient to act as guides for theheavier particles of ore, or values. I have obtained the best results when these indentations or corru ations have an appreciable depth and widt that bears a certain relation to the mesh of the ore; .that is, the sizeof the large particles of gangue. Practical experience suggests that for 30 mesh ore there should be Soorrugations per inch;

12 corrugations .per inch;

for 40 mesh ore, for 60 mesh ore, 16 corrugations; and for mesh ore, 20 corrugations. These proportions are not absolute, but it is of the greatest importance that the width and epth of the corrugations shall be so proportioned to the mesh of the ore that the larger particles of thelatter do not form obstructions upon the table, the avoidance of eddies in the flow of water being, of great importance. So far as my experience has shown,

the maximum permissible width of theindentations or corrugations is about four or five times the mesh of the ore, and in no case should the width exceed a quarter of an inch;

The best results I- have. attained by making the indentations from one twenty-fifth to one-fortieth of an inch deep; and as a general rule the width of the indentations or corrugations is about three times the diameter of the larger-particles, and the depth less than the width;

.It is not necessary that the corrugations on the body of the table shall be in the direction of agitation alone, .or even that they shall be exactly in that direction. For example, there may be several series of intersecting corrugations, or a single series run-' ning at an angle of less than 90 degrees to the direction of flow of the Water.

The ore to be concentrated on the table.

above described is first pulverized and after being screened is; fed to the table thro h the hopper ,8 the form of pulp, and

thecorrugated surface'of the table agitated or moved backward ongitudinallyt At the same 18 in such quantity and at suchyrate as to make an even and uninterrupted current down the table from-the upper to the, lower side. A preliminary separa- 'ti oniseffected on the surface of the offset 5,

a largeportion of the lighter particles of, gangue being washed off and flowing without interru tion to the tailings trough 13.

The

mass ore pulp as it leaves the surface of the offset begins to work in a general diagonal direction across the surface of the table, this direction"being varied to some extent .byregulating the flow, of water from the rear section of pipe the gangue being washed out andcarried over .to trough 13, whence it flows into tank 14. The values,'on the other hand, the reciprocations of the table and guided the corrugations 18 move down toward this foot of the table. If the guides it) are the form of corrugations the small particles of values fall into them and progress toward the foot .of the table until they are caught bytl'ie wash water from the pipe 11 andlswept into the trough 12, thence into the tank 15. If the guides 19 are mere scorings or lines upon the surface of the table, thetravel of the concentrates is in less definite paths, there being some lateral shift of the. lines of values in their progress toward the foot of the table. There is a certain residue not entirely separated, but composed of a large proportion of percentage of, values, t at continues on the diagonal path until it, reaches the middlings the values, b

trough ,,16;i"the values in these middlings,. however,arepractically all unliberated from silica, thus'forimng a' medium gravity material; One of the advantages of my processis that by .alsin'gle operation a plurality of, metals of different specific gravities willlbeseparated from a sin e composite ore, and maybetakenoif at di erent points of the field.: 1 v

In the construction shown in the drawing, reason of their greater specific grav'it ,1 ten to settle in the corrugations nearlt 0 pa!- side of the table and over a well define area; andas they-are then free from any disturbing influence exce t that whichfytends to movethem toward t 0 foot of thefftable; they will be carried off to the concefiitr te tank without loss beenfocc formation-1 of, :duns :and eddies lod ent: ofldrg'eparticles of gangue. The b0 y that continues to move iagonally acrosstlie table tends tots read out in a fan like mass, the chmcterist c of which is that particles 0f the values are :held-o'rtend to fall into the corrugations toward its higher side while the gangue iszbeinglconstantly carried off by angue with a small such as, has; asioned in former treatments by the due to. the

the current of water down toward tha trough 13.

- The observed behavior of the corrugated; surface above described is substantially dif-* table having rifiies in tend toward the'main substantially quiescent in planes transverse. to the corrugations and in which the sepaare protected from, c is exposed to the currents of e values being free to move-in rated metallic values while the gen wash water, t

these protected'zones longitudinally of the corrugations. Another factor incident to' the present invention and which adds toi'ts utility, is that the corrugations are so pro portioned that the values have a proportionately larger area of contact with the walls of the corrugations than the particles of gangne.

In this operation there is a substantiall uni-" form flow of water carrying partic es ,of

gangue from the upper to the lower side of the table, and a substantially uninterrupted progression of the values down the guides or corrugations 19 to the foot of the table.

For the surface of the table or other field' I have used load, since, being soft, it is easily corrugated by being passed between suitable rolls. glass, which may be molded in one )iece, or aluminium, or even vulcanized rubber. I prefer, however, an electrodeposited cover ing of copper formed upon'a suitable matrix; this covering may he made in one piece, thus dispensing with the necessity of 'oints or scams which create undesirable locai disturbances in the current of water.

I may, however, use materials such as 'lhe electm deposited covering of copperis particularly I advantageous when it is desired to have conrugations such as are shown in the drawings.

I-n Fig. 6 it will be understood the parts are I indicated on a greatly enlarged scale for the purpose of showing how the values 20 settle in t e hollows, w ile the curreiit oi water carries the large particles of the tops of the corrugations,

gangue 21 over What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-- 1. A concentrating table tions, said corrugations being sufliciently small in transverse section to create zones of liquid substantially quiescent in planes transverse tothe corrugations, said zones beingol sufiicient extent to receive uesj 'ii'h'd' protect 'thesame fro supplying wash water thereto.

the metallic vale cfiirentsof wash liquid, means-for'diiferen 5 tiallyireciprocating the table, and means for;

2., An ore concentrating table having itsy surface unbroken except for a series of corm I gations of such dimensions as to he'insulih cient to break the continuity ofthe flow of water and small enough to provide zones of? water substantially quiescent indirectionsvv transverse of the corrugations,- means'for gwwm ci'msi v a. flow ofL-water over said table toward t e tailings dischar e side thereof, and means to differential-1y rfiproc-ate said table.

3. An ore concentrating table transversely inclined and having surface unbroken except for a series of-gorrugations discharging at the foot of the table, said corrugations being so pi'oport i'o neiin transverse section as to create proportionately greater surface contact with the articles of values than those of the gangue o 'the particular mesh of ore being treated,.therebyjestablishing greater pre ponderating frictional 'oontact with the values, and means to imp-s'rt a differential reciprocating movement to -said table.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto, 

